Add all of the ingredients except for the cornstarch slurry in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer for another minute until thickened.

You can stop at this point or, if you want, you can add 2-3 drops of food coloring to make your sweet and sour sauce look the way it does at the Chinese takeout. Check out this all-natural food coloring.

Instructions

Place all of the ingredients, except for the cornstarch slurry, in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer for another minute until thickened, stirring constantly. If using red food coloring, stir it in.

Let the sauce cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks.

Video

Notes

* Freshly squeezed pineapple juice contains enzymes that will break down the cornstarch and prevent the sauce from remaining thick, so either use canned or bottled

Hi Kimberley,
Double header.
How long do you think the dill dressing will keep in the fridge before the dill flavour starts to deteriorate ?
Do you use pasteurised pineapple juice ? I´d briefly considered fresh but won’t that destroy the starch ?
Both of these will feature on our stall at the local Buddhist temple festival during Thai New Year if that’s OK ?
Happy Spring,
Best Paul.

Hi Paul, that’s a great point about the pineapple juice, I’ve made a note about it in the recipe. So yes, use canned/bottled pineapple juice. For the dill dressing, I would probably use it within a couple of days for optimal flavor.

I made this last night to go with our egg rolls and chow mein and it was delicious! It was as easy and quick as you said it was and the flavor is perfect. I don’t usually use food coloring but I figured a couple of drops divided by several people wouldn’t hurt anyone. Beautiful silky red sauce with a fantastic flavor. Thank you!

Fantastic, Cori, thanks so much! I very rarely use food coloring either, in fact this is probably only one of two recipes on my whole site that mentions it. But I agree with you – a tiny bit on rare occasions is fine.

Yes, ditto times three!! I don’t see a prompt to leave a bag., So I’m replying to one I see.

This recipe is the bomb! Meaning fantastic…authentic Chinese cuisine taste. Now, on to the chicken egg rolls from the Daring Gourmet. Thank U so much! Oh, I added 4 drops of red food coloring, not the natural kind.

I don’t know WHY I thought sweet and sour sauce was a complicated dish to make, but my goodness, now that I have your recipe, I can make ALL the things to incorporate it with and have an at home sauce! Win!

Kimberly, I am planning on making boneless country style pork ribs in a slow cooker. Would I be able to use this sweet and sour sauce to cook them? Would it break down
after maybe 8 hours in a slow cooker. Thank you.
I will be making this regardless. Looks great.

Hi Jim! Yes, cornstarch breaks down pretty quickly. Plus the juices from the pork ribs will add to the liquid content and the sauce will be watery. But that’s no problem at all: Simply make the sweet & sour sauce without the cornstarch, slow cook the ribs in it, and then add the cornstarch at the very end (you’ll need to use more cornstarch because of the additional liquid from the ribs). There are two ways you can do this: Simply stir the cornstarch/water mixture directly into the slow cooker and let it cook a few more minutes until thickened, or pour the liquid from the slow cooker into a stock pot, add the cornstarch/water to it, bring to a light boil until thickened, and then add it back to the ribs. Give the sauce a taste, it will probably need more salt because of the additional liquid from the pork ribs. Happy cooking!

This is prhaps the best and easiest sweet-sour sauce recipe I have read on the internet. I added a dash of homemade tamarind puree to the mixture while boiling because I like this tangy sourness a lot. And it came out just like I had expected – sweet and more sour. Also, I used bottled Minute Maid pineapple juice (filtered, of course) and did not use artifical coloring. I like to keep everything homeamde as long as possible, and this one just turned out perfect! Thanks for the recipe, Kimberly. Kudos!!!

I like the sliding scale for number of servings, and the quantities then adjust accordingly. However the amount of cornstarch doesn’t. Sure that would change too? It starts off at 16 servings but I want to make enough for only four. There are only the two of us in the house and four servings would be ample. Hoping you can comment.

Hi Ted, sorry about that, there must be a glitch in the software. The easiest thing to though do would be to just cut the recipe in half. The serving size noted is only about a couple of tablespoons, so in other words it doesn’t make a ton. Halving the recipe will be a good amount for 4 people.

Lovely sauce but I’m wondering how long it will last? I put it in old maple syrup bottles in the fridge. bottle in the fridge. BTW I used the juice from canned pineapple slices as it’s all I had in the cupboard. Cheers.

I haven’t tried this recipe yet. but here’s a little tip for people who want the colour but don’t want to use food colouring.
beetroot juice, out of the can or jar. it doesn’t look like it would be the right colour. but it is. my local Chinese restaurant owner told me that one, and its good.
im going to give five stars because it has so many all ready.

Maybe I missed it; cause there’s so many ads and pictures it won’t even finish loading but I noticed there’s no exact measurement for the pineapple juice. I couldn’t find anything other than a massive 46 oz can so I had to eyeball it. Correct measurements would be helpful. But if I missed it ; please disregard :) thx for the recipe!

To freeze it you’ll need to omit the cornstarch and then add it in later when you thaw and reheat it (bring it back to a boil, add the cornstarch/water mixture and let it boil for a minute or so until thickened).

Made this with regular vinegar and a mix of dark brown and white sugar, it came out fabulous! Hubby said it was a little sour, to which I recalled its sweet and sour chicken, lol. This is the recipe I’ll be using from now on!

We had a lot of leftover salt and pepper pork chop from our party so I decided to make this sauce. I added slices of different color bell peppers, onion, carrots, celery and pineapple. Turns out very good and It’s a big hit. My family loves my sweet and sour pork chop. So easy to make. Thank you for sharing your recipe.

This is my very favorite sweet and sour sauce recipe. Its so simple and yet the taste is so amazing. I had lost the recipe and couldn’t find it until I saw it on your website. I’m so glad to find this recipe again, can’t thank you enough !! It’s the best !!!

Who would a thought that at 75 years young I’m enjoying new recipes ! Thanks Pintrest ! And thanks for this awesome recipe. We loved this sauce with home made egg rolls, Delicious, “never too old to learn” thanks so much

I went dark, yes I used dark soy sauce instead of light and ended up having to alter the recipe ever so slightly with a little tomato puree, lemon juice, and a slight sprinkle of Chinese five spice and cayenne pepper but good lord, it turned out amazing! I also added strips of carrot wedges of pineapple and a diced green pepper.

Amazing,just like takeaway. I added (jullien) thin strips of carrot, celery, peppers and chunks of pineapple to sauteed chicken breast, then made the sauce over it in the pan. Served with egg fried rice the family LOVED it.
I just discovered your site. Thank you so much for your amazing recepies and adding nutritional info to them.

Hi there, I am trying to ditch all questionable ingredients from our diet and make my own dressings and sauces as much as possible. That’s what brought me here. However, my concern is that ketchup is store bought and contains all those bad things. Are you using home made ketchup or can pure tomato paste be subbed for ketchup in this recipe? Thanks so much 🤗

Hi Amanda, it depends on the brand of ketchup – some have junk ingredients in them while others are simply tomatoes, vinegar and seasonings. Tomato paste will not yield the same flavor results, so I do recommend ketchup.

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Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, all images, content and recipes are original and are the sole property of Kimberly Killebrew, daringgourmet.com. No photographs or other content may be used without prior written consent.